White gold became fashionable in the 1920's mainly as substitute for platinum, which had itself recently become fashionable. Today's one of the most common metal is gold. Gold creates the magic of its own. Since the man's earliest days, gold has been the ultimate mark of wealth and remains the hallmark jewellery metal. White gold is an alloy of gold and some white metals such as silver and palladium. White gold can be of several alloys—traditionally nickel was used because it is the least expensive, but some people have allergic reactions to nickel so nickel is no longer used as of this writing.

When white gold necklaces are new they are coated with another white metal called Rhodium. Rhodium is a metal identical to platinum and shares many of its properties like its brilliant white colour. The whitest gold is actually rhodium-plated gold. The rhodium plating is used to make white gold look more white. The plating will not chip but does wear off eventually and must be re-rhodium plated periodically to keep white gold looking at its best.